One of the things we could do to "change" the feel is to adopt a red palette similar to that of the Terminator's HUD instead of the current XCOM "happy greens".

Just don't forget to check for readability - some color schemes work better than others and there should be a balance between aesthetics and function.

I've been working over the weekend to get the a minimum functional Geoscape with the regions/alienMissions fully working. My goal at this point is to get the strategic layer working as much as possible before switching to map making for the Battlescape

Some of the experiments I've been doing. I had previously thought of switching the globe colors into grayscale for a post-apocalyptic look. The colors of the labels need to be changed but haven't figured out yet how to change those.

This image displays a basic V-22 Osprey craft used by Tech-Com at its maximum operating range and carrying 18 units. Ospreys can be acquired through the Market and then upgraded through workshops to include air weapons, extra fuel tanks or radar, with each upgrade reducing the unit carrying by 6 units.

I've been working on the last days to get ready to release a playable Alpha version.

I pretty much have the major changes to the strategic layer implemented at this stage:* Skynet starts the game with 3 bases, each randomly placed around the world: Core, 1 Factory and 1 Hunter-Killer (UFO equivalent) Base* The Core is Skynet's HQ - it can be assaulted but it will be a suicide mission until technology X is researched. Each day the Core has a 12% chance of generating one of the following missions: Infiltration, Retaliation and Supply. Assaulting the Core and recovering a specific tech is required to win the game but it will trigger a massive offensive by Skynet* Factories are used to expand Skynet's presence in regions. Each day they have a 6% chance of generating an HK Base or Workcamp in the region they are located, or a regular Supply mission* HK Bases are used to terminate the Resistance/Tech-Com's presence. Each day they have a 9% chance of generating one of the following missions: Infiltration, Retaliation and Supply* Workcamps are used to process and eliminate the human population and gather resources. Each day they have a 9% chance of generating one of the following missions: Harvest, Abduction and Supply* Skynet will also build 3 research bases at date/research milestones, which need to be discovered and assaulted to win the game. These facilities will be disguised in the Geoscape as Workcamps but they'll generate unique Research missions* At a late milestone, the Tempus facility will be unlocked at a random location around the world which has data that needs to be recovered to unlock the final * Skynet will conduct up to 3 Terror missions each month, randomly spread around the world. * Several milestones may unlock additional Terror or Retaliation missions

Resistance* The 'council' consists of 22 Sectors, each representing a former country or a collection of Resistance groups operating in the area* The V-22 is the only starting craft, and it has a range around 600-1000 miles, making it very slow and limited when compared to the Skyranger although carrying 18 troops. But it can be reconfigured in workshops to give it extra fuel, radar or air weapons, at the expense of its carrying unit* Placing the initial base will represent both an opportunity and a risk: if it's near the initial Factory/HK Base then there's a chance of eliminating earlier those bases before they can become troublesome, but if placed near the Core then it will be subject to multiple Retaliation attacks. But even worse will be none of these Skynet bases being in range of the player's starting base

The Geoscape part is still half-done, but now that UFOs intercepting your craft is available, it becomes a lot more interesting to design and implement stuff. More news later

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Redesigning Regions

The original game's regions were designed considering that the aliens would build bases in isolated areas and perform abductions/harvest in more rural areas, while conducting terror attacks on cities. UFOs would spawn/disappear in areas outside the region, simulating their entry on the atmosphere.

In Tech-Com the strategic situation is different: Skynet will start in control of central areas on each region/continent and the presence of the Resistance will be centered on outlying areas. So I'm currently redesigning all the missionZones (which are used by UFOs on the original to determine their flight paths) taking this into consideration

As an example

The area within the black polygons is under Skynet control - these will be the locations to spawn bases. The red stars are patrol areas for aerial Hunter-Killers, and the blue stars Resistance bases (for terror sites).

The redesign will also allow to implement new mission types for Skynet:* Counter-Air - multiple aerial HKs will conduct permanent patrols over most of a month to detect and shoot down any Tech-Com airborne craft in a region. Designed to severely limit Tech-Com's operations on a region* Patrol - similar to above, but using only a single aerial HK launched by a Skynet base in the area with a much shorter patrol duration* Convoy - ground HK will move between Skynet bases transporting supplies and equipment. The convoy will be very slow and easy to detect but it will only move in Skynet controlled areas